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id Software's engine is called "id Tech 5", and is being used in a game called "RAGE". Epic Game's engine is called Unreal Engine 3. id Tech 5 may become one of the more popular commercial game engines, if it proves as technically impressive as Carmack suggests, and has good tools, but I don't think many people expect it to eclipse the Unreal Engine's current status. If anything, CryEngine3 will probably start getting a lot more popular after Crytek releases their free-to-use version, to compete with the Unreal Development Kit and Unity for indie game developers.

So you would rather buy a $300-500 console than a $150-200 video card? Sure you may want to buy two of those video cards in a given console 'generation' to keep up with the Joneses... But it still evens out to about the same price - if you only buy one console. And don't argue that a gaming computer costs more than the video card, because most people already have to buy a new, more capable computer in about the same time-frame as a console generation, for things other than gaming. The only expense specific to a "gaming computer" is the video card. Not to mention PC games are less expensive, and console piracy is a quickly growing problem, so I wouldn't be surprised if console gamers have to start dealing with more and more DRM, and things like EA's "Project Ten Dollars" in the near future.

Not trying to argue that PC gaming is superior to console gaming - Just that the tired old arguments that PC gaming is more expensive, and more DRM laden are becoming much less relevant.

I fail to see where Randy made any absurd claims in the interview, or in his follow-up. He was just stating his opinions on something he obviously cares about, and has a lot more insight into than most people. I for one appreciate him bringing the subject up, as it is something I have thought about a lot. I too love Steam, and I want to see it keep growing - but at the same time, I would hate to see it alone totally take over PC gaming, leaving one company in charge, like with the various console platforms. I like what I have seen and heard from the people running Impulse, and I hope they can gain some ground, but they too are run by a company that also develops their own games.
In closing, I already have your game pre-ordered on Steam.

Herein lies the problem. People who have never worked retail don't understand how it works. I worked at CircuitCity for a little while, and it was generally enjoyable. I liked my managers and co-workers, and it was nice selling stuff I knew about (computers). We weren't on commission, but I was still occasionally annoyed with the constant little pushes from the managers to sell more 'protection plans' and Firedog services. But that is somewhat understandable, since they are a couple of the few things that they actually make a profit on, since they have to see actually computers pretty much at-price, or even at a loss, to compete with online stores, and even BestBuy/Walmart. Every day I came in, I am all of my fellow sales associates did our best to greet every customer, and help them out. I think our store had excellent customer service... But do you know what drove me to quit working there? The customers. You. There were plenty of customers that came into the store to do some shopping, and sure enough, I and them had a perfectly enjoyable experience. But then there are the customers that come in looking for a hard time, and sure enough, they get a hard time, and so do the sales associates.

On the subject of the liquidation prices... Ofcourse they weren't giving everything away on the first day. They are still in the business of making money up through the last day they will be open. The liquidation prices have nothing to do with the old CircuitCity prices. That 10% is off the MSRP... And most stores sell things like computers and TVs at way below MSRP already, so ofcourse the first days of the liquidation werent going to have the best deals. As long as someone will buy it, they aren't going to lower the price, which is why they progressively raised the % off over the course of the liquidation, to something like 80% off most things on the last day for the store near me. But ofcourse the store was picked clean of anything actually useful by that point. Though I did manage a couple open HDMI cables that had been used on displays for $2 each.

Another upcoming Stardock game, that I assume will be DRM free, is Demigod. Their official website doesn't have that much information, but there is a video from PAX, where I played through their demo and was very impressed.